Anyone else had one of these reactions

I think it was Ghandi who said there are three stages of truth acceptance; the first is laughter, the second is violent opposition the third is acceptance.

Now, I'm not claiming raw is the truth - though Im sure most of you here also believe it like I do, but I'm curious as a Raw Foodist I usually people who dont give a damn, some find it amusing but thats it.

Then today I was in a pub with a friend and we joined a group of my other mates friends, they were curious why i didnt drink so my friend told them I was raw - naturally that provokes a reaction, so I explained and they listened with curiousity, but this one dude was seriously angry!

He stated practically shouting all this balls about how meat and cooked is right, he was getting angrier by the minute and almost violent with it, I was stunned and sat there as I was yelled at and lectured about how wrong I was.

Yes, in my last job I was harrassed by a handful of women about my eating habits. One was the top supervisor and one time she repeatedly screamed at me in a meeting because I wouldn't eat the junk food that was there. (I always simply said, "no thank you." I never said anything to put down the food or their diet.) I didn't respond to the yelling and quit that job. (During that meeting I realized what a losing situation I was really in.)

I think that we're holding up a mirror to their eating habits (unintentionally and unaware of it) and it makes them uncomfortable/angry. These reactions have little to do with us. I should add I wasn't even raw at the time but I didn't eat meat or processed food. Basically, there are always going to be angry people out there who will be triggered by unpredictable things.

I am on a 28 day raw cleanse, and I went out to eat with some friends before a movie the other night. I figured I would just get a big salad, but they only had chicken and chef salads. So I got the small dinner salad, and of course when they brought it it had cheese and croutons. So I was taking that all off and so I went ahead and told them that I was doing a raw cleanse. My one friend who is quite a bit overweight (and is also about 8 years younget than I) said, "You need complex carbs." Then..."well, does this mean you are vegetarian again?" (I used to be and then went back to fish.) When I said yes she said, "Well I ordered the steak dinner. So very sorry you are having to eat with the chubby girl who likes cow. "

It was obvious that she was putting her own issues off on me, so I let it go.

Usually when folks overreact to something, they have some other issue that your comments may have sparked, which may or may not be at all related to the topic at hand. Maybe this guy grew up with controlling parents, and rebels against anything he sees as a threat to his freedom to do as he likes . . . or it could be a million other things. The best is to realize this, be compassionate, and let it go.

It's a controlling personality that is offended when people around them don't mirror them in their behavior/eating habits. This is a trait of narcissistic personality disorder. The instance of rebelling when interacting with a controlling person would be relevant if people were pushing their own dietary habits onto the other person. Often people raised by uber-controlling parents either become overcontrolling or go in the extreme opposite direction. (I'm referring to the extreme end of controlling parents and not simply "very strict" parenting, which is very different.) It's nice to be compassionate and it's also wise to get out of harmful relationships. (Of course, I'm not referring to instances where people behave in a normal manner otherwise and are still reasonable people. There is a large spectrum.)

Yea I get those a lot, actually it's the most common reaction I get, many people get very offended because they see it as a form of you judging them, saying their way of life is wrong and your's is right, and sometimes just confronting them with things they already know\fear. honestly after so many years of being vegan/raw I couldn't care less, if some lifeless idiot wanna eat like shit then get pissed about it and be an ass let him enjoy his own dish of poison, why should I care? I know I'm feeling good and that's all there is to it.

If you want to know what you think of yourself, ask yourself what you think of others. -Seth

leafygreen you are heading in the right direction with this

this is so true. I believe life we see IS a mirror. everyone around you mirrors what you truly believe. and you also mirror back to them. People do not like to have their beliefs shone to be false or questioned and they will fight for them right or wrong. We as a people unfortunately identify our beliefs to be who we are. So an attack (as they would see it) in an attack on them personally.

I was telling some people at work how salt and water actually helped my asthma and I was using the inhaler less (my doctor was always telling me I was low on sodium). I was called into the HR office and told not to be telling people to do stupid stuff like that because it could hurt people and get someone killed.
I was not telling them to do it, i was just answering their questions on why I was doing so much better and what was I doing. There are people who see big improvements in people and want to help themselves as well.
my choices of food was interesting as well.

you could have said, see! case in point! the stress hormones in the meat absorb into the person that eats it and you are acting like a jackbutt RIGHT NOW! see class, this big bully is a prime example of going vegan!
no just kidding. sorry about that. you did the right thing, just ignore him, but next time, don't subject yourself to the abuse, just say, i believe this way, you believe that way, let's agree to disagree, and leave.